Starting off every meet, the Swimmers and divers split lanes and do their team warm-ups. There is a set hour for each team to fit in their warm up laps or dives. Our swimmers like to take a speaker and play music to get them ready to compete until the playing of the national anthem.
The first few races begin, always starting with the 200 yard medley relay and continues until after the 50 yard Freestyle when both teams take an intermission for diving to compete. During diving, swimmers sit in a line on the side of the pool and cheer for the divers. Once diving is over, the swimmers pick back up with the 100 yard butterfly and ending with the 400 freestyle relay. Finally, scores are in and they get announced. Hopefully, the Wahawks end up in first!
Pre-Meet Rituals from our Captains:
Haley Stainbrook’s (West High):
“I leave West at 10 to go home and pack and start drinking lots of water. I take a nap until around 1:30, stretch, eat, change, and then leave around 3. I get to the pool early to stretch a bit more before warm-ups. I also paint my toenails white (I always swim fast when they are white)”
Lily Schwickerath’s (Wapsie Valley):
“I Jam to my favorite music during the drive to central showing up an hour early to talk with Jeff about my races. Then I pick a good playlist for warm-ups. After warm-ups when there is a dull moment I play ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ so everyone can sorta forget about swimming for a little bit and bond as a team.”
As you can see our swimmers really strive to do well and succeed in their races not only for themselves but also for the team! Make sure to go check out a Swim meet and support our Wahawks!
